The Psychology of Persuasion

The Psychology of Persuasion
Plan of School Event by Psychological Theme
Topic and Event

Among the huge range of psychological themes, in order to bring an event to school it is necessary to choose a topic not too theoretical. At least one goal is to evoke student’s interest in Psychology. A good way to do so is to try to link already existing knowledge with new views and facts.

I chose as a topic “The Psychology of Persuasion” because I think it’s a popular opinion among people and already among students in school that as a psychologist you are able to “read one’s mind” or to influence thinking and behaviour of people. Introducing students to Psychology as a science may change their opinion. That’s why during the school event it is important to point out psychological research methods and findings and compare them to the popular knowledge about psychology.

Bringing Psychology to school is showing that we talk about a very unique science, interesting and widespread.The school event I planned for students from the age of 15 at least comprises a topic related experiment, in which the students should participate, plus two or three lessons to talk about research, some phenomena and findings concerning “The Psychology of Persuasion”, summed up and shortened as “Cialdini’s Weapons”.

I am referring to Robert B. Cialdini (Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1999, 2nd edition)) and several scientific articles (see Sources). 1. The Experiment1One approach to understanding psychological phenomena is participation in an experiment. Let the students being object of psychological research allows a deeper insight into these phenomena. Moreover it gives them the chance to work with real data afterwards.

The experiment or quasi-experiment should take place before the lessons in which the students will get all the information about the psychological topic. Furthermore, as scientific work requires, students should not be aware of the fact that they are part of a psychological experiment. It should occur as a simple survey, taking place in school, carried out by one or two interviewers. For these matters no special facilities are required. Students can be interviewed on the floors of the school, in front of their classrooms for example. Not only students who will later on participate in the lessons can be interviewed, but to collect an amount of data it can be necessary to let other students participate in the survey, too.

Concerning the contents the experiment should refer to the psychological topics that students will get to know in the following lessons. One phenomenon easily to put into an experiment with the above described facilities is the “Door-in-the-Face” technique (see 2.1.1). Using a simple 2x2 design it is possible to compare results of one experimental group using this technique to the results of one control group. One can imagine the following scenario: In the experimental condition students are asked for a huge favour, e.g. “Next month there will be some charity events taking place in school every Saturday afternoon. We need volunteering students to help on

all four Saturdays. Do you want to participate?”. If the students refuse, they are asked for a moderate favour, e.g. “Do you want to volunteer on one of the four Saturdays?”. The percentage of students who agree on the second request is the dependent variable (dv1). In the control group the scenario could be as follows: Students are asked only a moderate favour, e.g. “Next month there will be some charity events taking place in school every Saturday afternoon. We need volunteering students to help on one of these four Saturdays. Do you want to participate?” Again the percentage of students who agree on this request is the dependent variable (dv2). In fact it is not a real experiment because the scientific requirements for an experiment are not fulfilled. In

order to make the text more understandable I’m using the term “experiment”. 1

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...Section One – 1
When psychology first began to become a science in 1860, it was more of a field of philosophy than an actual medical study. It dealt with a more abstract concept than other medical fields; the human body is something concrete that you can physically look at and study whereas, at the time, you could not physically see the mind.
In Ancient Greece thinkers such as Aristotle and Plato could only come up with theories as to how the mind works. Plato believed that some knowledge is innate while Aristotle believed that the ability to learn depended on experience, however neither were able to prove their theories with concrete evidence. As time went on and psychology became more widely known, more theoretical approaches to psychology were introduced. Freud established the psychoanalytical theory, which emphasized the importance of the unconscious and how it shaped how humans behave. While Freud did use psychoanalysis to attempt to bring unconscious thoughts and feelings to conscious awareness, it was still far from valid scientific evidence.
In the 20th century, behaviorism was introduced. Behaviorism encouraged psychologists should limit their studies to behavior that was objectively observable. The introduction of behaviorism advanced psychology as a field of scientific study because it now focused on what people do rather than their own personal experiences. Studying behavior rather than gave...

...﻿Intelligence as a measure of distance
It is almost impossible to measure intelligence accurately and I will support this notion by stating logical and proven facts about the human mind and how they differ based on culture, understanding and environments.
Intelligence is measured as an estimation based on other criteria, hence the analogy “ as a measure of distance”
For example Region to region differ in understanding and identify intelligence based on either intellectual strength or physical strength depending on their cultural background, skill relevance and understanding.
IQ testing including Raven's progressive matrices test attempt to overcome biases in testing, therefore overlooking Culture and experience. Culture, experience and intellectual reasoning are deeply intertwined (Richardson, 1998; Sternberg et al,. 2001) and i'm sure anyone would agree that we were all raised differently based on the facts mentioned.
For the sole reason that intelligence is embedded in social and cultural context, certain features are more familiar to certain social groups in certain areas and therefore creates an unfair evaluation.
For Example, Parts of the world survive on being street smart and uphold that status based on what is classified relevant and useful in that specific area or from a certain kind of people who later on spread out into the world and might end up living amongst others who follow a different measurement of intelligence and progress in their world...

...issues of intrusion.
To conclude from the above argument, indeed ethics are important in research for they build mutual trust and respect between the participants and the researcher, they serve normal goals and objectives of the research, and they protect the participants from psychological and physical harm. Ethics are important for both the researcher and the participant at a larger degree, although there are some problems associated with the use of ethics as some ethics will disturb the yielding of valid and reliable research results.
REFFERENCES
CARDWELL M (1996) (PSYCHOLOGY FOR AS LEVEL) THE COMPLETE A-Z OF PSYCHOLOGY HANDBOOK. HODDER AND STOUGHTON.
SHAUGHNESSY, J. ZECHMEISTER, E. B AND ZECHMEISTER, J. S (2009) RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY 8TH EDITION
Koocher, GP and Keith-Spiegel, P (1998) Ethics in Psychology New York: Oxford University Press
Sales, B.D., & Folkman, S. (Eds.). (2000). Ethics in research with human participants. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist
...

...Life changing events and daily hassles
Stressors can classified into two broad categories: discrete or continuous. Most of the research on discrete stressors has focused on the study of major life events, such as divorce or job loss, that require a significant degree of adjustment on the part of the individual. Continuous stressors, such as ongoing problems of life and living, also permeate our daily reality. Psychologists look at the impact of discrete major stressors, i.e life changes, and then move on to examine the impact of continuous minor stressors, i.e daily hassles.
Life Changes - The social readjustment rating scale (SRRS)
A major way of measuring the relationship between life changes and well being is the the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). This scale, developed by Holmes and Rahe in 1967, is also known as the Holmes-Rahe Life Events Rating Scale. Together with some later variations, the SRRS has been the most widely used of all method for assessing life stress.
A study of life changes as a source of stress (Rahe et al. 1970)
Aim: To find out if scores on the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale correlated with the subsequent onset of illness.
Procedure: 2500 male American sailors were given the SRRS to asses how many life events they had experienced in the previous six months. The total score on the SRRS was recorded for each participant. Then, over the following six months whilst on tour of duty, detailed recordings were...

...﻿Research Methods of Psychology
Psychological Research is conducted to obtain factual information about human behavior and mental processes to find out the underlying cause and effect relationship. Here we will discuss two out of five methods of conducting Psychological Research named:
1. Case History Method
2. Survey Method
1. CASE HISTORY/ CASE STUDY/ CLINICAL METHOD
Definition:
A case study is an in-depth study of one person. Much of Freud's work and theories were developed through individual case studies.
Explanation:
It is sometimes very helpful to study one person (or a very small group of people) in great depth to learn as much information as possible. This method is particularly useful in studying rare disorders or circumstances.
Examples:
A. Studying the life history of a man who acquired schizophrenia at the age of 20.
B. Following one child from conception to adulthood to examine this lifespan development.
Types of Case Studies:
Explanatory: Used to do causal investigations.
Exploratory: A case study that is sometimes used as a prelude to further, more in-depth research. This allows researchers to gather more information before developing their research questions and hypotheses.
Descriptive: Involves starting with a descriptive theory. The subjects are then observed and the information gathered is compared to the pre-existing theory.
Intrinsic: A type of case study in which the researcher has a personal interest in the case....

...﻿TASK 1
Malaysia is well known for its diversity in race and culture which has never failed to attract thousands to millions of tourists from all around the world. The nation is represented by its multiple ethnic groups that live harmoniously in the country. According to Wikipedia, the population of Malaysia as in year 2010 is estimated to be 28, 334,000. The major ethnic groups which are Malays, Chinese and Indians enable the exposure of children to Multilanguage and bilingual environment. This will definitely leave an impact on children’s social, cognitive and linguistic development.
Children in Malaysia are exposed to Malay language generally because of its curriculum requirement. As to second language, English language has also been a focus being the International language. This type of bilingualism was put forward by some researchers thus far. Apart from these two languages children do share languages of other ethnics when come to communicate effectively. Though they may have to direct translate other language to the one they comfortable sometimes, it is undeniable that this practice will definitely enhance their linguistic skills.
Talking about profound impact on children’s social, they surely get to mingle and learning a second language will open the door for communication with people not from own ethnic group. The ability to understand two languages enable children to work along with peers and teachers and appreciate diversity. In multilingual Malaysia, children...

...How Does Positive Persuasion Exist in Teenagers? What Are the Effects?
Oakland University
Professor
WRT 160
Close Reading Paper
Abstract
There are many of us who constantly assume that teenagers are overall just trouble makers, that their up to no good, and that sex, alcohol and drugs are all they think about. Yes, this is a common fact but do you ever think about the positive that comes out of teenagers, if there is any? Society has influenced many around the world to label teenagers. As I analyze my research, I will find the answer to does positive persuasion exist in teenagers? As far as the word persuasion, it will be defined and discussed in terms of sight and sound. The idea of teenagers persuading adults and parent/teen relationships will be examined. Along with are they positive relationships or negative. In order for me to prove this, I researched several different scholarly sources and one primary source. I interviewed an individual in my life and connected my story to this paper, analyzing myself with several stories I came across. These sources help compare everyday teens to one another.
Keywords: analyze, positive persuasion, parent/teen relationships, sight, sound
How Does Positive Persuasion Exist in Teenagers? What Are the Effects?
Persuasion, it exists in all kinds of ways....